


Freaking Out

by Eternal_Phantom



Category: Freakazoid (Cartoon)
Genre: A more conventional Superhero take on Freakazoid's Origin, Also Cosgrove will have a new job, F/M, Just drama too, There's still comedy, for obvious reasons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26457667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternal_Phantom/pseuds/Eternal_Phantom
Summary: A corrupt tech CEO who's willing to kill to keep his company in the black and a poorly chosen Christmas gift lead to a series of events no one could have predicted. And for Dexter Douglas, nerd computer ace, his life is about to get very...freaky.
Relationships: Dexter(Freakzoid)/Steff
Kudos: 12





	1. The Chip

A haunted looking man stared into his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He had come so far, from the child of poor farmers in his home country to being one of the top programmers in a large-scale American cooperation. Was he really prepared to throw it all away?

There was no doubt about it, a product recall at the late stage would destroy global trust in the company. Competitors could easily move in and remove his company from the picture. Not only would he certainly be fired, but he would be unhireable. All for something that had less than a one in a million chance of happening.

_But what if it does happens, eh?_ His conscience whispered at him. _Could you go on living with yourself knowing some poor soul gets hurt because you did NOTHING?_

The man splashed some cold water on his face. It wouldn’t do to lose control of his emotions. There was only one thing he could do, and he was going to do it with pride and dignity. Drying his face with a towel, the man marched out of the restroom with a renewed sense of purpose. He marched to the main meeting room, where all the major stockholders and even the company president were waiting.

Trying not to let his fear show, he moved to the podium, sliding his notes and proofs into the small cubby within it. One final deep breath and it was time…

“Gentlemen,” began Rodrick McStewart, “The Pinnacle chip is flawed.”

“A 'flaw’?” Armando Guitierrez’s voice sounded innocently curious, but it was all Roddy could do to keep from shivering. “What kind of 'flaw’?”

“One I’ve never seen before,” Roddy answered honestly. “If activated, the chip’s ability to increase the rate of information flow goes into overdrive, the consequence of which are, to say the least, dire.”

One of the stockholders leaned forward “What do you mean 'dire’?”

McStewart sighed. “The computer would start downloading information from the internet at an unseen rate. And not just one or two files, it would try to download the whole bloody thing. Rather than slowing down as this continues, it speeds up causing the system to critically overheat in under a minute. It’s not unlikely the computer would explode, causing serious damage to the user in the process.”

It was silent as a morgue. “W-What are the odds of this happening?” Another suited man asked.

Crud. He was hoping that wouldn’t come up. “I’ve calculated the odds at four hundred and fifty million to one.” As he feared, he watched the entire boardroom relax, joking amongst themselves that they had been scared of nothing. The fools saw such a large number as unreachable. But the truth was the chip had already sold over 60 million units on pre-order alone. In under a year it would reach five hundred million, practically guaranteeing at least one accident.

Guitierrez took a deep breath. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Roddy. I will discuss this with the shareholders. If you would please wait in my office, we can discuss this further and see how we can salvage this.”

He knew he was being dismissed, but it was more than he had thought he would get. At least Guitierrez was willing to listen to him in private, even if he was going to spend the next hour telling the stockholders there was no problem.

Guitierrex’s office was a long rectangular room, the north side of which was completely glass. The mahogony deck used the window as a backdrop. Roddy flopped down in the wheeled leather chair in front of the desk and pulled out his notes. On one of the pages was a picture of the Pinnacle chip focused in on it most important feature, the 'Broken Arrow’ core. Many times McStewart wished he could have spoke with the R&D team that had developed it. It’s power was amazing, McStewart was sure the chip he had built around it wasn’t accessing a fraction of it’s true power. 

“Thank you for your patience Roddy, no sit, sit” Guitierrez gestured for the programmer to remain sitting in the wheeled leather chair. “How could this has happened?

“The Broken Arrow core is so powerful. Moreso than we ever could have guessed. A system built around it would probably be the most powerful system in existence, but a normal computer just can’t safely handle it.”

“I see,” Guitierrez walked to the north wall of his office, which was a solid glass window letting in the cold December sun. “We shall have to rally as quickly as possible. How many other developers are aware of the flaw?”

“None, I didn’t want to start a panic, not until I was completely sure.”

Guitierrez turned his back from the window “A wise move Roddy,” He gripped the back of Roddy’s chair. “I thank you for your final service to this company.” 

Roddy had expected to be fired. What he hadn’t expected was for his employer to start pushing the chair at top speed towards the window. He also hadn’t expected the window to not be made of hurricane glass.

Shards of shattered glass fell with him as he tumbled out the window. He hit a tree branch with a thud that probably broke all his ribs but halted his fall enough to survive it. As quickly as he could he made his way to his car. He wished he could just call an ambulance, but he didn’t want to give Guitierrez the chance to finish the job.

Elswhere, Debbie Douglas put in the preorder for one of those Pinnacle chips. It would be just the perfect thing to give Dexter for Christmas.


	2. The Christmas Gift

Dexter hated how relieved he felt as he closed the bedroom door. He loved his family, even Duncan (Turing knows why), but never felt like a part of them. 

He knew it was mutual, that they didn’t understand him either, but still loved him. The proof of that was in his hand.

The Pinnacle Chip, something he’d never dreamed he’d own. He was surprised his parents had even known what it was, much less purchased one for him. They must have even pre-ordered it, since they were sold out everywhere.

There was love in that he just…just needed to hold on to it.

Dexter removed the side of the tower and began the process of installing his Christmas gift. He heard his door crack open, but didn’t look up. The privacy of bedrooms were sacred in this household, and there was only one resident who’d open his door without knocking. Thankfully it was the one he didn’t mind being in there with him.

Sure enough, the feeling of the family cat rubbing against his back brought a smile to his face. Dexter paused a moment to pet the cat, getting a deep rumbling purr in return.

Something caught Mr. Chubbikins attention though and he bounded off, letting Dexter finish he work. He left the side of the tower off in case he needed to fix anything quickly and booted up the computer.

He couldn’t help but grin as it whirred to life, the Linux based system loading faster than it ever had before. The Pinnacle chip really was amazing!

A small bug floated past his screen and suddenly twelve pounds of feline hunting instincts landed squarely on his keyboard. “Mr. Chubbikins, no!” Dexter scolded, grabbing the cat and putting him on the floor.

It looked like the boot process had been halted. The GUI hadn’t loaded and there was simply a command line with "@[=g3,8d]\&fbb=-q]/hk %fg" typed in. Sighing Dexter hit delete, ready to start over again.

“No-no-no,” Dexter moaned as everything went wrong. The screen turned blue and the tower made a loud whirring noise that got louder and louder. The fans went into overdrive, trying to cool the rapidly heating apparatus and electricity sparked around several of the circuit boards. In the center of it all the Pinnacle Chip glowed a light blue. 

If asked what he should do before or afterwards, Dexter would have answered that his should pull the plug from the wall, cutting the power supply, then dissembling the computer to replace any damaged parts and not use the Pinnacle Chip until he understood what had happened.

But in the heat of the moment, seeing his beloved computer he’d built piece by piece destroying itself from the inside out, he did the first thing that popped in his head, which was to try and grab the Pinnacle chip and pull it out.

He felt a surge of power hit him, but it didn’t feel like the electrical shocks he’d gotten in the past. His head ached and random things came to mind. Facts and figures, codes, emails, he couldn’t process it all!

It was with a feeling of relief that Dexter finally blacked out.

~

Roddy swore to never say a bad thing about his cousin Jeb again.

Well, he wouldn’t have anyways, speaking ill of the dead and all, but Jeb had been a decidedly odd duck when he was alive. The man never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t believe and upon his death (caused by an entirely treatable infection he’d refused to see a doctor for, didn’t trust them) had left Roddy the location of what he could only call an apocalypse bunker.

It had been built into a cave system, deep enough in and reinforced enough to survive a nuclear strike. It had it’s own generator system, years worth of food, medical supplies, and a rough (by his own standards) computer bank hard wired to the internet in a way Roddy was fairly sure was illegal. At the very least, it wasn’t being paid for.

At the time he’d gotten the bunker, Roddy had thought it’s existence was a gigantic waste of time and money. Now it was probably the only reason he was still alive.

He’d gotten himself to a hospital after his near fatal fall. He’d thought he’d made it, that the worst was past. Then he’d awoken to a pillow being shoved over his face. The assailant clearly hadn’t expected him to fight back and he’d managed to club him with his IV. 

It was clear his former boss wasn’t going to let him live, so he’d gone to the one place he figured no one would find him. He’d lain low in the bunker, slowly healing and trying to keep track of things as best he could. 

He’d been resting on the couch when an alarm on the computer went off. Roddy’s heart sank. The alarm was from a custom program he’d made. One meant to track the internet for any sign of a mass download of the kind the Pinnacle Flaw would cause. It had happened, just as he said it would. And on Christmas day, no less.

Roddy struggled with himself for a moment, just has he had that day months ago. Leaving his bunker would put his life in danger, but…no, he owed answers to whoever had fallen victim. Or at the very least their family if the worst came to pass.

He could only hope he could make Gutierrez pay, one way or the other


	3. Enter the Freak

It was a familiar chiptune that woke Dexter up, one he had set to play when his custom GUI loaded. He forced his eyes open and realized he was one the floor. What was he doing there? 

Seeing the side of his computer opened jogged his memory of the Pinnacle Chip going nuts. Or did it? The computer was functioning perfectly now, humming quietly along with the screen. He looked at the hand where he’d grabbed the chip and saw no sign of the massive electrical burn that would have had to be there. 

_An electrical burn is a burn that results from electricity passing through the body causing rapid injury. Approximately 1,000 deaths per year due to electrical injuries are reported in the United States, with a mortality rate of 3-5%.[1] Electrical burns differ from thermal or chemical burns in that they cause much more subdermal damage.[2] They can exclusively cause surface damage, but more often tissues deeper underneath the skin have been severely damaged. As a result, electrical burns are difficult to accurately diagnose, and many people underestimate the severity of their burn. In extreme cases, electricity can cause shock to the brain, strain to the heart, and injury to other organs.[3]_

What….? Dexter shook his head, trying to figure out where that had come from. 

He shook his head and Mr. Chubbikins meowed and rubbed against him. Dexter reached to pet him when a strange feeling shot through his head.

_Pheomelamine is the pigment responsible for the ginger color in cats._

_A huge 80% of all ginger cats are male_

_♪ Cat *wink* I’m a kitty cat. And I dance dance dance. And I dance dance dance ♪_

Words and images flooded his head and all of a sudden it was hard to think, to focus. He saw Mr. Chubbikins and for a moment didn’t recognize him as his beloved pet, but simply a cute cat.

“Kitty Kitty Kitty,” he cooed in a tone that wasn’t like him at all. It was certainly enough to scare off Mr. Chubbykins, who nyoomed under the bed. The disappointment of the moment was enough to bring him to his senses.

He turned on his heels and ran to the bathroom. He examined himself in the mirror, trying to see if there was something wrong with his head or eyes. He ran through the Stroke checklist, but passed the standard tests. “Am I just going insane?” he muttered to himself. “Next I’ll be seeing little blue men.”

As he said this he felt a gentle buzzing on his skin. Looking down he saw a wave of electricity passing him over, leaving his skin blue in its wake. He whimpered, his mind trying to wrap around what he was seeing, What on Earth could turn his skin blue?

_Cyanosis refers to a bluish cast to the skin and mucous membranes. Peripheral cyanosis is when there is a bluish discoloration to your hands or feet. It’s usually caused by low oxygen levels in the red blood cells or problems getting oxygenated blood to your body._

No, this wasn’t cyanosis. Even he knew enough to know humans didn’t turn that particular shade. And why the heck did these…data pieces keep forcing their way into his brain?

His thoughts were interrupted by a pounding on the door. “Hey Dorkster, open up. The rest of us need to use the bathroom too!”

It was all Dexter could do to keep from hyperventilating. He couldn’t let his family see him like this! They already thought he was weird! What could he do? Disguise himself?

He felt the lightning tingle again, around his eyes and the top of his head. A glance in the mirror revealed his hair had become black and spikey, while a domino mask appeared about his eyes.

  
  
As his panic rose, he felt a strange bubbling feeling in his mind. His thoughts broke apart and drifted away, no matter how hard he tried to hold on to them. Why _was_ he trying to hold on to them anyway?

“Come on, freakazoid, open the door!”

Oh right, Duncan. Huh, Duncan had always been upset Dexter wasn’t like him, big and strong. If everything was changing, maybe he could change that?

He grinned as he became taller and gained a physique not seen outside comics. Duncan would be so happy! He opened the door with his grin growing ever wider. “Let’s Wrassle!”

~

Roddy took a deep breath as he stopped the car, ignoring the ache in his ribs it caused. There was no ambulance or people screaming, so hopefully no one had been seriously injured. It was a small comfort, but it was there. He grabbed his old Apex employee card and the cane he hated but needed to be mobile right now.

He made his way to the front door carefully, avoiding icy patches on the walk and steps (oh how he’d come to _loathe_ steps) and rang the bell.

He heard some movement inside and the door opened to reveal a middle aged woman with a smile that seemed almost grafted on.. “Can I help you?”  
  


“My name is Roddy McStewart, I work for Apex International, creators of the Pinnacle Chip.” He handed the man both his Work ID stating he was an employee and his driver’s license. “We received a signal from a newly installed Pinnacle Chip of a malfunction and I’m here to take a look at it.”

“On Christmas Day?” she asked, surprised.

“We all do what we can to make a living.” He gave her a sad smile.

“Well, okay then. Dexter’s room is upstairs, second door on the right.”

  
Roddy blinked. Just like that? Still he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if it involved stairs.

He was nearly bowled over by a teenage boy running past him, yelling about something blue. Roddy looked to the woman who’d opened the door, but she’d just called up to ‘Dexter’ that he had a guest.

_Odd Family_ he thought, as he made his way up the stairs.

~

_This was some quality family bonding_ he thought as he sat on Duncan’s back locking up one of his brother’s legs. That’s what it was, right? That’s why it was okay for Duncan to get physical with him.

“I give! I give!” Duncan called out.

But he knew this game. It wasn’t over because the other person gave up. You had to make them say something. “Sing ‘I’m a tugboat, Call me Mel’.”

“I’m a tugboat…call me Mel…I can’t, I don’t know the words?”

“That’s a tough one since I just made it up.” He admitted, but let Duncan up since he had tried.

Duncan tore out of the room, so he knew he’d done a good job, until he heard his mother’s voice coming from downstairs. “Dexter, you have a guest.”

Dexter. That’s right, he was Dexter. And with that realization the floating feeling he had vanished as his thoughts coalesced and his body condensed into the body he’d always had. He fled back into his room and huddled on his bed, too freaked out to try and do much more.

There was a knock on the door and a red-haired man entered. He glanced around seemingly surprised at the computer, still humming along. “Are you Dexter?”

“Yeah, who are you?”

“Roddy McStewart. I’m here about a malfunction with your Pinnacle Chip, but everything seems to be-”

“That was real?” Dexter blurted out. “Ever since that happened…I think I’m going insane.” he clutched his head.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Roddy asked. The room wasn’t a mess of shrapnel as he feared, but it was obvious _something_ had happened.

“After I installed it the cat jumped on the keyboard and it started going nuts. I tried you yank the chip out to save the computer-”

“Are ye _daft_ boy! You could have electrocuted yourself!” 

“I know, I wasn’t thinking!” Dexter snapped back. “I grabbed it and I thought I got shocked and blacked out, but my hand was fine when I woke up. And…thoughts keep popping in my head.”

“What kind of thoughts?” Anything besides a broken computer was well out of his wheelhouse, but Roddy couldn’t just leave the kid when he was so upset. Especially given the concern he now had with the lad’s mother sending him up to see her teenage son without any supervision.

“I dunno, random facts? It’s like articles and videos are just pulling themselves up in my mind. And then everything goes fuzzy.” Dexter didn’t mention what had happened in the bathroom. There was no way that was anything other than a hallucination.

There was the beginning of an idea forming in Roddy’s head, but he wasn’t ready to admit it was possible yet. That the reason Dexter’s computer had been spared was the Pinnacle chip had found a _better_ storage solution for its mass internet download.

Before he could even think of how to check or even explain the door burst open and a taser fired directly at his chest. Roddy’s world exploded in pain, both from the electricity and his ribs from the body spasms, and everything went black.


	4. Conversations in a Trunk

Roddy awoke in pain. His ribs were definitely rebroken and the poor suspension in whatever he was traveling in wasn’t helping. It was far too dark to see, but it was cramped and there was definitely someone in there with him.

“Lad?” he asked as loudly as he dared.

“Mr. McStewart, you’re alive!” Dexter sounded relieved. 

Dear lord, on top of everything else the poor kid probably thought he was locked in the dark with a dead body. “What happened? All I remember is a lot of pain.”

Dexter gulped. “These guys just came through the door and attacked you. I surrendered and they handcuffed me and led me out of the house and dumped up in the trunk of a car. I know it was cowardly but-”

“Lad, it kept ya alive, which fightin back would nae have done.” Roddy’s accent began to thicken, he no longer had the energy to try and speak ‘proper’. “An yer family?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see them on the way out. I think they must have been taken first. Mr. McStewart what’s going on?” Dexter pleaded. Nothing today had made sense.

“How well can ye lie?” Roddy asked. “If Gutierrez even suspects ya know, he’ll not let ya go.”

“With all due respect sir, I’ve been kidnapped and thrown in the back of a trunk. I don’t think letting me go is in the plan.” He could feel the madness bubbling inside his head, but forced it down. He needed to hold himself together as much as possible.

As much as he hated it, the kid was right. Gutierrez obviously didn’t plan on leaving either of them alive. “I used ta work fer Apex as a programmer and engineer. Helped ta develop the Pinnacle chip. But right before it was set ta release I found a bug, a flaw. I tried to get Gutierrez to recall the chip. And he tried ta have me killed. Twice. Ah hid out somewhere he could nae find me, but I created a program to track the flaw should it activate. Which it did today.”

“What’s this flaw? Why is it such a big deal?” A faulty product couldn’t be worth all this.

“It would cause tha chip to download the entire internet on tha computer at an ever increasing speed, causing a catastrophic failure that would inevitably lead to tha hard drive shattering, possibly with enough force ta tear open the tower casing and hit tha user with a barrage a’ shrapnel.”

“But my computer didn’t explode. How did he find me? How did _you_ find me?”

“I imagine he found ya tha same way I did. I made a program to track that sort of mass download the Pinnacle chip would cause. I wanted to give an answer to any potential victims. Gutierrez wants to silence them.”

“That doesn’t explain why my computer didn’t explode.” It was probably the least important part of this, but focusing on the madman who wanted him dead would shred his little remaining sanity.

“I’ve been hiding out in a bunker not far from Luray.” Roddy seemed to ignore the question. “Do you know how to get from Washington to there?”

Dexter was about to say of course he didn’t when the images started flashing in his mind again. Maps detailing directions to Luray, Virginia and information on the caves systems and tourist attractions in the area. “How do I know this? I swear I didn’t before.”

“The reason your computer was saved was the Pinnacle chip routed the download to an external device.” Roddy explained. “One that could handle far more data.”

“What external device? The only other thing touching the computer was.. _.me_?” Dexter’s voice went up several octaves. “Are you saying I have the _internet_ in my brain!?”

“I can’t explain it, but it’s tha only thing that makes sense.”

“Except it doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense!” The panic was building faster and faster. He almost felt his mind slip when the vehicle they were in squealed to a stop. The truck opened and one of the kidnappers looked down at them.

“Up and at’em you two. Mr. Gutierrez wants to have a few words with you.”


	5. Meeting with a Madman

Dexter had known, objectively, that the situation wasn’t good. Somehow seeing Mr. McStewart in the light of the parking garage made it worse. He was pale and obviously in a lot of pain. And Dexter really hoped he was imagining what looked like blood on the man’s lips.

More flashes of what he could only assume was WebMD and other such sites flashed in his mind, but he pushed them down. _Great, now I’m going to think everything is a sign of cancer._

They were led through a building at gunpoint, slowly as Mr. McStewart couldn’t move very quickly. They went up an elevator, which at least gave the man a rest from walking. It was strange how normal the building looked. Just an average office, pleasantly decorated. They were led to an office door, which Mr. McStewart balked before.

“Remembering your last time here?” One of the kidnappers said cruelty before opening the door and shoved them inside.

The room was big, almost too big to be a single man’s office, but there was only one desk near the large picture window which displayed the snow covered city. A man was looking out the window, but turned at their arrival.

“Roddy, my good friend, I never thought to see you in here today. I suppose you too made a program to track mass internet download. You always were a good programmer, such a pity. And you, dear boy,” Gutierrez circled around to Dexter. “You have provided quite the conundrum.”

“Me, sir?” Dexter gulped.

“When Roddy delivered to me news of the flaw in my chip, he made it apparent that my Pinnacle chip would turn computers into bombs. I have ran my own tests that verified this. Therefore imagine my surprise when I set my men to burn down the house to hide the evidence, only to discover no bomb. So tell me gentlemen,” Gutierrez put his arms around their shoulders. “How did you defuse this?”

“We don’t know.” Roddy answered harshly. “I only arrived a few minutes before your goons and the lad didn’t even know something could be wrong.”

He was lying. He’d told Dexter his theory, as insane as it sounded. But he’d also said the only chance of Dexter escaping with his life was if Gutierrez believed he didn’t know anything. If they could pretend nothing went wrong-

“Why doesn’t the boy tell me what happened?” Gutierrez put his face uncomfortably close to Dexter’s. “And before you even think of lying to me, know that I have your family being held elsewhere. If I think you’re being anything less than truthful, they die.”

Dexter’s vision swam. Again he felt himself starting to lose it, but he was the only thing keeping his family alive. “The cat jumped on the keyboard during the boot sequence. I tried to delete what he typed and the computer went nuts. I unplugged it, waited a few minutes, then restarted it and it worked fine!”

“Thus interrupting the transfer of date, I see.” Gutierrez looked thoughtful. “That was very quick thinking.” He then turned to the guards. “Kill them, I’ll decide what I’ll do with the family later.”

“He’s just a child!” Roddy argued. “At least let him go!”

“A child who’s seen my face is no longer a child, but a threat. But chin up boy, you may have saved your family.”

“You’ll never get away with this, Gutierrez!” Roddy snarled.

“Just as I didn’t get away with ‘killing’ you three months ago? Did you not think it odd that you showed up at a hospital with cracked ribs, reported an attempted homicide, and all that came from it was a second attempt of your life? Oh Roddy, you have no idea what I can get away with.” He turned to the gunmen. “Eliminate them. And do try not to damage the window. I just had it replaced.”

“This isn’t real, this can’t be happening.” a mad giggle escaped Dexter’s mouth. He knew he couldn’t keep it under wraps anymore. What even was the point. “Guess I’m just _freaking out._ ”

This time it wasn’t a bubbling or fading sensation. It was as if his thoughts, his mind, everything that made him Dexter was shredded. But there was something still left, and it was ready to play.


	6. Thinking Sideways

Oh, this felt much better. What had he been so upset over in the first place. Oh, right the guys with guns. Meanies. Just like Duncan.

Hey, maybe they wanted to play too?

An unnervingly big grin split Dexter’s face. He jumped backwards, landing on all fours, and kicked the gunmen, knocking them and their weapons to the floor. Before they could react, he was picking them up, one under each arm and his grin none the dimmer. “LET’S WRASSLE!”

Roddy slumped against the wall in shock as the lad went through the two gunmen like they were tissue paper. They had no chance as this 5’4 skinny teenager tossed them around and twisted their joints together in ways joints shouldn’t bend. It seemed like in only seconds they were on the ground unconscious, Dexter sitting on top of them.

He turned his gaze to Roddy and it froze the man’s innards. There was no trace of the nervous young man he’d met earlier. Those eyes seemed vacant, if cheerful. But the violence he’d just witnessed made that cheer sinister.

_The boy’s gone mad_. He thought. _His mind snapped between what the Chip did to him and what Gutierrez did._ And now that gaze was turned on him. He had no chance of defending himself, didn’t even know if he could bring himself to fight the lad off. After all, he was at least partially responsible for his current state.

”Wanna go out for a snow cone?” the person who had once been Dexter Douglas asked.

“What?” It took Roddy a moment to process the question.

“A snow cone. I’ve been craving one all day, but I thought it would be silly to ask since it’s winter. But really it’s silly not to ask because then I can’t get a snow cone. I like the blue raspberry ones best. But why do they make it blue? Raspberries are red. And you never see blueberry flavored snowcones. Oh hey-” He seemed to realize the state the men he was sitting on were in. “I think they could use a chiropractor. Do you know one? I don’t. Oh hey, I have _lots_ of knowledge of chiropracty.” He jumped off them and began wiggling his fingers somewhat menacingly. “Wait, Is chiropracty a word?”

“We don’t have time for that. We have to get out of here quickly, but stealthily.” Roddy was still trying to process everything, but at least now they had a window of opportunity.

“Stealthy? Like with disguises? I have a great disguise! Wanna see?” Without waiting for an answer he pumped his arms in the air and the crackling electricity overtook him again. In a flash he stood 6’4 and blue, complete with domino mask and black hair. “Pretty cool, huh?” he asked, flexing his new muscles.

Roddy’s jaw dropped at the impossible thing before him and all his myriad thought processes froze.. “What…what are you?”

  
  
“Duncan called me Freakazoid.” he answered chipperly, as if unaware it was an insult.

“An’ how long have you been doing that?” Roddy asked Dexter/Freakazoid.

He put on a serious look of thought. “I think…about ten minutes before you showed up.”

_I think I’m going insane_ Dexter’s words echoed in his mind as he realized he wasn’t just talking about the extra data in his head. Had the Pinnacle chip caused this? If so **how**???

Had it somehow reformatted him to better hold more data? Something like RNA Editing? No, that was for later, right now they had to get out of there alive. Except if they did, Gutierrez would undoubtedly kill Dexter’s family.

Crud.

New Plan New Plan. Okay. “Lad, do ya remember the coordinates I gave ya earlier?”

“To your super secret hideout, yep!”

“Do you have a cell phone?” 

Roddy felt relief seeing him pull one out of his jacket pocket. “Okay, here’s the plan. You get as far away from here as you can, I’ll find out where Gutierrez has your family. When I do I’ll text you that information. Get them out if you can and go and hide in the bunker.” Roddy looked at him critically. “By the by, how strong are you like that?”

“Pretty strong, why?” He’d taken Duncan after all.

It was a long shot but - “D’ya think you can lift his fancy desk and put it through his oh so precious window?”

The lad’s face lit up “DO I?”

~

Blue Raspberry was absolutely the best snow cone flavor.

He had been doing…something…when he saw the open shop (and on Christmas too!) and had enough money in his pocket to buy the snow cone. So now he was sitting on the roof of a building, legs dangling over the side, and enjoying his frozen treat. The cold and snow didn’t even seem to bother him.

What had he been doing before anyways? He’d been going somewhere…Nope, it was gone. Huh, maybe he should get another snow cone and bring one back for Roddy.

_That’s_ what he was doing! He was going to Roddy’s secret bunker. Because…because…

Dang it, he used to be GOOD at this whole thinking thing. _C’mon Dex, focus_ It was like pulling teeth - _no, stop pulling up information on dentistry_ \- trying to pull his focus back. Grabbing all the tiny shreds of what his mind used to be and piecing them back together.

Then everything snapped together and with a flash of light Dexter was back to normal, physically and mentally. Unfortunately suddenly shrinking a foot made him lose his balance and topple off the building. 

He screamed as he fell, landing in the snow. It took him a few seconds of deep breaths before he realized he was still in one piece. “That should have hurt more.”

He sat up and tried to process what was going on. His transformation, at least, wasn’t a hallucination. Roddy had seen it too. He lost control again and beat up some armed guards and Roddy wanted him to go to the bunker so he’d be safe.

Something clicked, something Roddy had been saying since the beginning. _The only way for **you** to get out alive_ _At least let **him** go_ Even the plan had Dexter escaping by himself while the heavily injured Mr. McStewart stayed in the enemy’ stronghold to find information.

Mr. McStewart was putting everything into _his_ survival because he’d given up on his own. He’d known it was his death to leave the bunker, but he’d done it anyway. Accepted it, if only to give some people he’d never met closure.

And Dexter dared not go to the police. Gutierrez made it clear that he had ways of getting out of trouble, it wasn’t a big leap to the idea that some of the cops were on his payroll. Meanwhile Mr. McStewart was in danger and he didn’t even know where his family was.

He felt on the verge of hysteria, but was surprised to realize it was just that - hysteria. The madness that had been in the back of his mind most of the day (when it wasn’t in control) wasn’t pressing on him. Did it need a rest after being in control for so long? Or was it because crazy Dexter had willingly ceded control to sane Dexter?

Well, Crazy Dexter was going to be disappointed, because Sane Dexter had nothing.

The hysteria broke free in a mixture of laughing and sobbing as all the fear he’d been bottling up all day poured out of him. And when he ran dry he just felt empty. He had no idea what to do. Should go back and save Mr. McStewart and probably die, or try to hitchhike all the way to Luray?

Right now he didn’t want to do anything. 

So he just let the darkness take him, lying in the snow while more gently drifted down from overhead. He didn’t wake up when a beat up old car pulled to a stop next to him and it’s sole occupant got out.  
  


“Dexter?”


	7. Cocoa with Cosgrove

Dexter awoke to the smell of chocolate. It took him a moment to collect himself enough to take in his surroundings. He was in a home he didn’t recognize. It was well kept, but the walls were decorated with what looked like childish drawings, with popsicle stick and playdough crafts decorating the walls and shelves.

As he was looking around an older man with bushy eyebrows who looked so achingly familiar came in with two steaming mugs.

“You’re awake.” He said with a small half grin and again Dexter was struck with the feeling he _knew_ him, even if he couldn’t place him.

The man handed him a mug filled with Hot Cocoa. “You weren’t feeling cold, so you couldn’t have been out there for long, but I figured you might want a warm drink anyway.”

“Thank you, sir.” Dexter accepted the mug.

“It’s the least I can do for one of my old students.”

And then it clicked. “Mr. Cosgrove? You _shrunk_!”

The man chuckled dryly. “I think it’s more likely you’ve grown since kindergarten, Dexter.”

Dexter flushed and took a large gulp of his cocoa to hide it. He was barely knee-height to the man when he’d been in Mr. Cosgrove’s class and always remembered him as a kind but looming man. Now Dexter was fairly sure he was the taller of the two.

The man took a sip of his own drink, his cheer seeming to fade. “Dexter are you okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Dexter answered a bit too quickly. He had no idea how to explain how his day had gone.

Cosgrove’s expression was stern now. “Kid, I found you unconscious in the snow on Christmas day looking like you’d been crying, not to mention you were so tired you barely stirred when I picked you up.”

The _only_ reason he hadn’t taken Dexter to a hospital was he wasn’t in danger of hypothermia and said hospital would have contacted his parents.

Cosgrove had…suspicions about how the Douglas’s treated their youngest. It was more than obvious they favored their oldest son. Duncan had been allowed to run wild while quiet Dexter was treated just more sternly. Suspicions of that smile that was always on Debbie Douglas’s face that haunted him to this day.

Suspicions that he had been told weren’t enough to act on.

“Are you having trouble at home?” Cosgrove asked seriously.  
  


Dexter suppressed the urge to laugh bitterly. He didn’t even know if he _had_ a home anymore. Gutierrez knew where his house was, and he had no idea if his parents and brother were alive or dead. Even if he survived, how long would it be for? Roddy was probably already dead and-

“Cut that out.”

It was a near automatic response that broke Dexter’s thought’s. “Sir?”

“I can see you chasing your own thoughts down a deep hole.” Cosgrove explained. “And that won’t do you any good. I know you haven’t been my student for a while, but I’m still here if you need me.”  
  


It felt like there were too many thoughts churning in his brain. But there was one undeniable fact. Dexter needed help, even if it wasn’t the kind Mr. Cosgrove was thinking of.  
  


It was at this moment his phone dinged.

_Lad, Gutierrrez lied, your family is here. They’re being held in the basement. He hasn’t harmed them yet, likely to use as leverage when he finds us. I’ll do what I can_

Roddy was still alive but he and his family were trapped in the enemy stronghold. He couldn’t go back there, but he couldn’t just leave them to die! Should he risk the police anyway? Would they even believe him? Dexter took a deep breath. “Sir, can I ask you a hypothetical question?”

“Only if you’re okay with a hypothetical answer.” Cosgrove half joked.

“If someone you knew was in trouble, really serious trouble, how far would you go to help them?”

“As far as I needed to.” Cosgrove answered without hesitation.

“Even if it wasn’t someone you were especially close to? Or if helping would be dangerous for you?” Dexter pressed.

“Even then. Do you know why I became a teacher?” Dexter shook his head. “Because I always wanted to help people. I grew up on stories of superheroes that would save people and give everyone hope. Of course, you can’t grow up to be a superhero, so I became a teacher.”  
  


“Teacher was your first choice in how to be a hero?” Dexter questioned.

“Not my first, I admit. But the best one I found. ” Cosgrove clarified. “So if someone needed my help, no matter what, I’d be there. But that’s just me.”

Dexter wished he could have that resolve. But he didn’t know what he could do without being killed. It wasn’t like he was a super hero or anything.

_Aren’t you?_ A small voice said. Dexter wasn’t sure if it was his conscious or Crazy-him. _Look at what you’ve done today_

Okay point, but he had no clue **how** to do any of that stuff, even if Crazy Dexter seemed adept at it. But could he trust Crazy Dexter? Yeah, as weird as it was to say. Crazy Dexter didn’t hurt anyone who didn’t hurt him first and willingly gave control back to him when he thought Sane Dexter could help.

It was the only hope he had anyway.

_Hey Crazy me, can you come out?_ No, of course that would be too easy. He needed to stress his mind. Web pages about stressors popped in his head and instead of trying to block it out followed the rabbit hole down. _Top Ten Causes of Stress_. _Stress Symptoms: Physical Effects of Stress on the Body. How to Best React When You’re Feeling Stressed Beyond Belief._

“Dexter, are you okay?” He heard Mr. Cosgrove’s concerned voice.

“I’m trying not to be. I need to push my mind to it’s limits to freak out.”

Cosgrove watched as Dexter’s eyes snapped open, but they didn’t look the same at all.

“Alright, superhero time!” Dexter jumped up and changed, becoming bigger and blue. “Okay, need a more superhero-y outfit.” he snapped his fingers and Dexter’s shirt, shorts, and jacket were replaced with a red one-piece jumpsuit with white gloves and boots.

“Now I’ll return to Apex Computers and rescue my family and Roddy. Nothing will stand in my way! Oh and thanks for cocoa Mr. Cosgrove, nice seeing you again.” He ran off in a flash of lightning before waiting for a response.

It took Cosgrove a moment to process what he’d just seen. Then he stood up and grabbed his coat and hat.

He had not a clue what was going on, but he told Dexter he’d help no matter what and that’s what he intended to do.


	8. A hero is born

He got to the Apex building really fast! Man, he was good at this superhero stuff. He shot through the doors and posed dramatically. Only to realize a second or two later no one was there.

“Aw, nutbunnies,” He slumped over, disappointed his big reveal moment hadn’t worked. He supposed he just needed to get his family out of…out of… He reached into a pocket that wasn’t there a moment ago and pulled out his phone. The basement! His family was in the basement. Where was the basement?

He pulled up all the knowledge he could about Apex. There was a lot about the company, press releases, Gutierrez hiring mercs and assassins on the dark web, product information, the history of the company, but no floor plans. Oh well.

Nothing for it, then, but to look himself. The first few doors he opened revealed nothing, but the third had a bunch of guys with guns sitting in it. “Hey can you guys tell me where the basement is?”  
  


“Who the hell are you?” One of them asked as they reached for their guns.

Uh-oh, superheroes couldn’t give their real names and he hadn’t thought of one. Quick, first thing to pop into his head. 

“I am Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes!”

“What?” The assorted goons just stared in disbelief.

Hmm, maybe that wasn’t a good one. “How about Freakazoid?”

“That fits,” one of them snarled as he took aim.

Dexter, now Freakazoid, grinned. He’d come up with a good one. Now to do the truly superheroic thing and fight bad guys.

Before the one aiming could pull the trigger, Freakazoid was up in his face. “Hi!” He said cheerfully before punching the man straight through the ceiling.

That was the signal for all hell to break loose. Bullets were flying in the air, but they didn’t seem to bother him too much. Sure a few nicked him, but he was faster than most of them and they didn’t even hurt for long. The other guards who were hit fared a lot worse. They went down screaming and clutching their injuries.

Hmm, heroes should let other people get hurt. Except bad guys, and these probably were bad guys since they tried to shoot him. Still, it wouldn’t be heroic to leave them there.

He scooped up all the injured men and zoomed away, screeching to a halt in the lobby of the local hospital.

“Hey, these guys were trying to shoot me and ended up shooting each other so they probably need medical help. Also they’re hired gunmen, but I left their guns in Apex. Thank you, bye!” And with that he zoomed off back to where he started.

“Now to…what was I doing? Oh right. Basement. Family. Who I will rescue because I am _Freakazoid_!” Just to make it official the front of his jumpsuit blurred and a black and white logo of an F! appeared.

But he still didn’t know where the basement was. 

So he resumed his search, opening the doors one at a time, unaware of the security camera watching his every move.


End file.
